Human population, habitat expansion, and economic growth are destroying biodiversity at a rate 100-1000 times greater than normal, creating a scale problem

"WE ARE INTO THE OPENING STAGES of a human-caused biotic holocaust--a wholesale elimination of species--that could leave the planet impoverished for at least five million years. That's the worst news. The better news is that this horrifying destruction still lies mostly ahead of us: There is time, though only just enough, to slow and stem the process."